Football pranks are not uncommon, and the best ones are used to make fun of your rivals.
In the case of Everton, the club’s supporters haven’t had a huge amount to celebrate in any meaningful fashion in recent years, last winning a trophy back in 1995. In the that time, their Red neighbours have won two Premier League titles, two European Cups, three FA Cups, five League Cups, two UEFA Cups, three UEFA Super Cups and the FIFA Club World Cup.
When some fans set off flares to celebrate this season’s title win, however, they got a nasty surprise.
Title Celebrations
Although most Liverpool fans knew that the club was going to win the Premier League title before they actually did so during the 2019-2020 season, it wasn’t mathematically done when the global health crisis at the time ended up shutting the country down.
As it happened, even if Liverpool hadn’t played another game and every other club continued their season, the Reds would still have had enough points to win their 19th top-flight trophy, but no one knew that at the time and so the celebrations didn’t get to happen.
@nazira_yusuf22 On this day in 2020 🏆🔴 #liverpool #lfc #champions #premierleague #football #footballtiktok #anfield #jurgenklopp #fypシ ♬ original sound – Nazira| Football Journalist
When Chelsea defeated Manchester City to hand the Merseyside club the title, it was behind closed doors. Although some people chose to ignore lockdown rules in order to celebrate, putting lives at risk in doing so, most people didn’t break the law and so the title largely went uncelebrated.
The same was not the case this time around. Instead, there was a packed Anfield ready to see the Reds defeat Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 in order to secure the title in spectacular fashion, with parties going on around the city for days afterwards.
Blue Smoke
As the final whistle went at the end of Liverpool’s destruction of Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs side, the celebrations began. Both inside and outside Anfield, the club’s supporters began to let off pyrotechnics, obeying the oft-trottered-out line of ‘no pyro, no party’.
The party was well and truly underway, as red smoke billowed into the sky around the ground and throughout the city. Only, not all of it was red. Prior to the fateful day in which Liverpool won their second title in five years, one Evertonian had decided to have a bit of fun.
View this post on Instagram
They bought up a load of blue-coloured flares as well as red ones, swapping over the labels so that the blue flares looked as though they would emit red smoke when set off. They then went out and sold said flares to countless people, resulting in some Liverpool supporters setting off blue smoke in amongst a sea of what was otherwise red.
It was a top-class prank, putting a slight dent on the fun had by some and giving Evertonians a rare chance to smile during what would otherwise have been another miserable day for them.
A Rare Win For the Blues
There will doubtless be some Evertonians claiming that the club has had plenty of chances to celebrate in recent seasons, with the Goodison Park pitch being invaded more than once in the wake of the club confirming its Premier League survival. Yet there is no question that they have been little more than pyrrhic victories for the supporters, who know only too well that they haven’t seen their club lift a trophy for 30 years.
Even if they did somehow forget, the fact that Liverpool supporters have banners and balloons reminding them during the Merseyside derby each year will ensure that they are quickly reminded.
“They can have more enjoyable moments in a week than we’ve had in 30 years. Everton are the most miserable club to support in this country. A combination of us being unable to have any high compounded by them getting football miracles on a weekly basis season after season.”
Even the derby itself is a sore subject for most Everton supporters. There was another mini-pitch invasion at Goodison Park in February when James Tarkowski scored a goal in the 98th minute, but even that only rescued a draw for them. Their last win at Anfield in front of supporters came in 1999, winning just two of the last 32 meetings between the sides in all competitions, dating back to 2011.
In other words, the supporter who put the red wrapping around the blue pyrotechnic might have won the battle, but Liverpool fans will feel as though they’ve won the war.